SCSI FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions for comp.periphs.scsi Table of contents: What is SCSI ? Is it possible for two computers to access the same SCSI disks? What is the problem with the Adaptec 1542C and external cables? Where can I get SCSICNTL.EXE and other Adaptec files? What is the difference between the Adaptec 1542A and 1542B? What are the differences between the Adaptec 1542B and the 1542C? What are the differences between the 1542C and the 1542CF? What kinds of Optical Drives are available? Where can I get FTP/download SCSI documents? Where can I get SCSI documents? Where can I get information on various disk drives and controllers? What is the telephone number of Adaptec? What is the telephone number of Archive Corporation? What is the address and telephone number for Quantum? What is the telephone number for Seagate? What is the telephone number and address of Conner Peripherals? What is the number for NCR? What is the address and telephone number of UltraStor? What is the address and telephone number of Wangtek? What is the address and telephone number of Western Digital? What is FAST SCSI? SCSI terminators should measure 136 ohms? Can someone explain the difference between 'normal' and differential scsi? What are the pinouts for differential SCSI? What are the pinouts for SCSI connectors? Part 2 What is the difference between SCSI-1 and SCSI-2? Is SYNCHRONOUS faster than ASYNCHRONOUS? Is the 53C90 Faster than spec? What are the jumpers on my Conner drive? What are the jumpers for my Wangtek 5150 drive? What is CAM? What is FPT (Termination)? What is Active Termination? Why Is Active Termination Better? Why is SCSI more expensive than IDE? What is Plug and Play SCSI? Where can I get drivers (ASPI and other) for the WD7000 FASST2 host adapter? ==== QUESTION: What is SCSI? ANSWER From: LSD, L.J.Sak@Kub. Edited by Gary Field ==== SCSI stands for Small Computer Systems Interface. It's a standard for connecting peripherals to your computer via a standard hardware interface, which uses standard SCSI commands. The SCSI standard can be divided into SCSI (SCSI1) and SCSI2 (SCSI wide and SCSI wide and fast). SCSI2 is the most recent version of the SCSI command specification and allows for scanners, hard disk drives, CD-ROM players, tapes [and many other devices] to connect. SCSI is becoming a popular standard. More and more computers use it daily. (e.g. ATARI Falcon and TT, expensive MS-PC's, Amiga, Apples and many others) ==== QUESTION: Is it possible for two computers to access the same SCSI disks? ANSWER From: burke@seachg.uucp (Michael Burke) ==== Yes, two (or more) systems can be on the same scsi bus as scsi disk and tape drives. As long as the scsi requirements are met - cable lengths, termination and type - the devices can share the scsi bus. The question should be - Are there any O/S' that will allow the sharing of file systems? It would not make sense for two hosts to go about treating shared disks as if they owned the device. Data would be destroyed pretty quickly. On the issue of tape devices, however, O/S' tend to give exclusive usage to an application. In this way, tape drives can be shared much more easily. Disks can be best shared by having two (or more) partitions on a disk. Each host "owning" its own file system. ==== QUESTION: What is the problem with the Adaptec 1542C and external cables? ANSWER From: Scot Stelter, Adaptec (Product Manager for the AHA-1540) ==== Several articles lately have cited the importance of SCSI-2-compliant cables when cabling SCSI bus subsystems. Perhaps the most accurate and technically detailed one was published in Computer Technology Review in March (Volume XIII, No. 3. PP. 6). In short, it explains the double-clocking mechanism that can occur due to cables whose impedance falls below the 90-Ohm SCSI-2 spec. Steep edge speeds on the REQ and ACK lines of the SCSI bus exacerbate the problem, but non-compliant cables are the root cause. Both LAN TIMES in the US (5/24/93, page 115) and CT Magazine in Germany (7/93, page 18) cite this cable problem. In an extensive survey of cables available in the US and Europe, we found that more than half of the cables available have single-ended impedances in the 65 to 80 Ohm range -- below the 90 to 132 Ohms specified in the SCSI-2 spec. It seems that some (not all) cable vendors do not understand the specification, describing their cables as SCSI-2 compliant when they are not. A common misconception is that SCSI-2 means a high-density connector. In fact, there are several connector options. I have published a technical bulletin that summarizes the critical requirements (TB 001, April 1993). An artifact of its faster design left the AHA-1540C with faster edge-speeds than its predecessor, the AHA-1540B. As I have said, this can exacerbate the effect of bad cables. This explains why some users could get their AHA-1540B to work when an early AHA-1540C might not. Essentially, the 1540B was more forgiving than the early 1540Cs. Good cables fixed the problem, but unfortunately for the user, good cables are hard to find. After surveying the cable market and many of our customers, we decided that bad cables were going to be here for a while, and we had to make the 1540C as forgiving as the 1540B was. At the end of April we made a change to the AHA-1540C that involved using a passive filter to reduce the slew rate of the ACK line, the signal that the host adapter drives during normal data transfers. Extensive testing with many intentionally illegal configurations confirms that we succeeded. Prior to release, we tested the AHA-1540C with over 200 peripherals, systems and demanding software programs with no failures. Then, a second team retested the AHA-1540C across a wild combination of temperatures, humidities and other stresses. This testing gives me confidence that the AHA-1540 line continues to serve as the gold standard for SCSI compatibility. ==== QUESTION: What is the difference between the Adaptec 1542A and 1542B? ANSWER From: fishman@panix.com (Harvey Fishman) ==== The AHA-1542A is obsolete and no longer supported by Adaptec. They stopped providing firmware upgrades at some level prior to the equivalence to the 3.10 level of the AHA-1542B firmware. I am not sure just where though. The present latest AHA-1542B firmware is version 3.20, and supports drives up to 8GB under MS-DOS. ==== QUESTION: What are the differences between the Adaptec 1542B and the 1542C? ANSWER from: Terry Kennedy (terry@spcvxa.spc.edu) ==== The 1542C is an an updated model which replaces the 1542B. The 1542C features jumperless setup, having only 8 DIP switches. All other configuration options are set using the 1542C's built-in BIOS configuration utility. Configurable features not found on the 1542B are: o Ability to enable/disable sync negotiation on a per-ID basis (the 1542B could only do it for all ID's on the SCSI bus) o Ability to send "start unit" commands on a per-ID basis o BIOS works with alternate I/O port settings on the adapter o Ability to boot from ID's other than 0 o Software-selectable termination o Software-selectable geometry translation o Additional DMA speeds of 3.3 and 10 MB/sec Additionally, the 1542C uses a Z80 CPU and 8Kb buffer instead of an 8085 and 2Kb buffer as on the 1542B. ==== QUESTION: What are the differences between the 1542C and the 1542CF? ANSWER from: Terry Kennedy (terry@spcvxa.spc.edu) ==== The 1542CF includes all of the 1542C features, and adds "Fast" SCSI operation, providing SCSI data rates of up to 10MB/sec (compared with an upper limit of 5MB/sec on the 1542C). This is unrelated to the host DMA rate. It also has a software-configurable address for the floppy controller and a "self-healing" fuse for termination power. ==== QUESTION: Where can I get SCSICNTL.EXE and other Adaptec files? ANSWER From: randy@psg.com (Randy Bush) and Timothy Hu timhu@ico.isc.com ==== New files from Roy as follows: ftp.psg.com:~/pub/adaptec/... -rw-rw-r-- 1 randy staff 110689 Feb 25 00:29 SCSICNTL.EXE.Z -rw-rw-r-- 1 randy staff 368640 Feb 25 00:27 adse.dd -rw-rw-r-- 1 randy staff 1959 Feb 25 00:25 adse.dd.readme -rw-rw-r-- 1 randy staff 17896 Feb 25 00:37 list -rw-rw-r-- 1 randy staff 99545 Feb 25 00:20 os2drv.zip -rw-rw-r-- 1 randy staff 70801 Feb 25 00:20 scsi_drv.Z -rw-rw-r-- 1 randy staff 66508 Feb 25 00:24 scsi_drv.readm -rw-rw-r-- 1 randy staff 118697 Feb 25 00:17 update.pkg.Z You can get the ASPI specs from Adaptec's Bulletin Board (408)945-7727. ==== QUESTION: What kinds of Optical Drives are available? ANSWER From: joungwoo@mensa.usc.edu (John Kim) ==== As I promised I am posting the summary of what I learned about 128mb optical drives through many kind replies and some effort on my part. The purpose of this informal survey was to aid people (starting from myself) in deciding on which 128mb optical drive to buy. When I posted my questions, it was done only on comp.mac.sys.hardware and forgot to do the same also on comp.arch.storage and comp.periphs.scsi where are less traffic than c.m.s.h. However, as a Macintosh owner myself, this survey was biased toward the Mac world and the mail order houses mentioned specializes in Mac-related products, although the below mentioned optical drives might be usable also with non-Mac platforms (Sun, NeXT, PC-compatibles). My questions were: o what kind of drive you bought from whom at what price o what drive mechanism (MOST, Epson, Fujitsu, Sony, ...) it uses o how fast it is in terms of average seek time & data transfer rate o how noisy the drive is o how large and heavy the drive is o what drive formatting program (eg, FWB or Silver Lining) you use what its goods/bads o the quality of the service of the seller (mail order company, retail store, etc.) Summary In general, these days, some magneto-optical (MO) drives seem to be almost as fast as (if not faster than) ordinary hard drives (HD). The access time of fastest 128MB MO drives (around 30ms) are slower than average HD's access time (15ms) but the transfer rate seems to be about the same (764KBytes/sec) or not much slower. The advantages of the MO drives over the HDs are that your storage space is almost limitless, expandable at a relatively cheap price ($40/120MB = 34 cents/MB) compared to $1/MB rate of HDs or that of SyQuest drives, and the life of the media is very long (they say it's 30 years or rewritable 100,000 times.) Fijitsu 128 REM Portable: At this moment, to my knowledge, 128 MByte optical drives based on Fujitsu mechanism seems to be the fastest, roughly having average seek time of 30ms and average transfer rate of 768KBytes/sec. Another good thing about this Fujitsu drive is that it is more compact in size than previous 128mb optical drives, ie, "portable". I don't know how Fujitsu mechanism (FM) is different from Epson mechanism (EM) and how FM provides a similar performance at a cheaper price in a smaller frame. Maybe using split-head implementation to make the read-write head lighter? Could anybody post info on this? One person tells me that the eject mechanism is too strong, sometimes shooting the cartridge out making them land on the floor. He says Fujitsu told him that the FM's coming out in April will have gentler eject. Epson: The next fastest (or maybe just about the same speed) are Epson mechanism (EM) drives, having average access time of 34ms and transfer rate of 768KB/sec. These achieve faster speed compared to other old mechanisms by having a higher rpm (3600rpm vs. past 2400 rpm). Slower ones: Other mechanisms (Sony, Panasonic, etc.) seem to have been dominating the optical drive market before FM and EM's advent. These have a typical access rate of ~45ms. I don't know if now there are new implementations that make them perform better then FM and EM. Maybe someone can tell us. Noise Level: One thing to consider might be noise of the drive. Different mechanisms may have typical noise level, but one thing sure is that different resellers/companys' drive's noise level differs even for the same drive mechanism, eg, Sony. It looks like different casing produces different noise levels? (Could someone confirm/disconfirm this aspect?) Base on the report in Nov '92 issue of MacWorld, the noise level of MacDirect, MacProduct and DGR 128mb MO drives seem to be OK or quite quiet. This issue of MacWorld deals with removable media drives (optical drives of various capacity, SyQuest, Bernoulli and Flopticals) and you can get some idea on what the differences among different drive mechanisms are. Formatting Software: Another thing to consider is what kind of media formatting software you will use. All companys (or mail order places) seemed to provide for free formatting program with their drives. I don't have the details on this. But an inefficient formatting can result in slow drive performance. The most popular one used to be FWB's Hard Disk Toolkit but Anubis (advertised to improve performance up to 35% [compared to what?]) is beginning to be used also. I don't know if all formatting program and the drive hardware allows to have read and write verify off but by having these turned off you can obtain significant speed boost at the risk of less secure data transfer. MacWorld's report warned that drives from some companys don't let you turn on/off the verify. In the worst case, some come with verify off and no option to toggle it back to ON. 256mb MO drives: In general these have better transfer rate (1.23MB/sec) and a little slower access time (35ms). I feel that this capacity will soon be the next standard. These drives are able to also read/write 128mb cartridges and 256mb will soon be new ANSI and ISO standard. I once heard from a saleperson at a mail order place that these are not reliable yet and he saw many they sold came back with complaints. This may be a non-general instance on a typical drive mechanism (seems to be MOST mechanism). Personally, I feel 128mb is accomodating enough for personal usage at home unless you are dealing with very large data files (eg, large graphic images). ==== QUESTION: Where can I get FTP/download SCSI documents? ANSWER From: news@mgse.UUCP (News Administator) ==== Last Changed: Thu Sep 24 23:31:09 CDT 1992 (New BBS Phone number) This is a periodic posting of information about some of the archives at ftp.cs.tulane.edu and the available files from the SCSI-BBS, including SCSI, ESDI, IPI, and Fiber Channel documents from the standards committees. These files are available for FTP from ftp.cs.tulane.edu in the directory pub/scsi. Files are stored in file areas as they are found in the BBS with each area having a file named 'files.bbs' that tells what each file is. The file pub/scsi/index.Z list each file area, its descriptions and its files. Thanks to John Lohmeyer of NCR, a majority of the SCSI related files from the SCSI BBS are now available for anonymous ftp. These files were sent to me by Mr. Lohmeyer at his expense so that more people would have access to them. The SCSI BBS (719-574-0424) contains a large amount of data relating to SCSI, and ESDI as well as SCSI-2, IPI, and Fiber Channel, as well as the last revision of the SCSI-1 standard before it went to publication by ANSI. Most of the files in the SCSI archive are either archived with the ZIP utility or compressed with the 'compress' program. Most of the text files are stored as Wordstar word processing files. PKzip for PC/MS-DOS is included in the archive to allow users to break up the .ZIP files, and the PC/MS-DOS binaries and .C source are also in the archive to convert the Wordstar documents to ASCII text. [Added by Gary Field Dec 21,1993] There is also a lot of good information at ncrinfo.ncr.com ==== QUESTION: Where can I get SCSI documents? ANSWER #1 From: kev@hpcpbla.bri.hp.com (Kevin Jones) and jmatrow@donald.WichitaKS.NCR.COM (John Matrow ==== The only literature that I'm aware of is: The SCSI specification: Available from: Global Engineering Documents 80112-5704 (800) 854-7179 SCSI-1: X3.131-1986 SCSI-2: X3.131-199x SCSI-3 X3T9.2/91-010R4 Working Draft (Global Engineering Documentation in Irvine, CA (714)261-1455??) SCSI-1: Doc # X3.131-1986 from ANSI, 1430 Broadway, NY, NY 10018 IN-DEPTH EXPLORATION OF SCSI can be obtained from Solution Technology, Attn: SCSI Publications, POB 104, Boulder Creek, CA 95006, (408)338-4285, FAX (408)338-4374 THE SCSI ENCYLOPEDIA and the SCSI BENCH REFERENCE can be obtained from ENDL Publishing, 14426 Black Walnut Ct., Saratoga, CA 95090, (408)867-6642, FAX (408)867-2115 SCSI: UNDERSTANDING THE SMALL COMPUTER SYSTEM INTERFACE was published by Prentice-Hall, ISBN 0-13-796855-8 (Seems to be out of print) ANSWER #2 From: Gary Field (garyf@wiis.wang.com) A neat little book called "Basics of SCSI" second edition, was sent to me free of charge by Ancot Corporation, Menlo Park, CA (415) 322-5322. It gives a simplified description of how most aspects of the SCSI bus work and includes some discussion of SCSI-2 issues. ANSWER #3 From: Runar Jorgensen (runar.jorgensen@fys.uio.no) There was a two part article in Byte Magazine. The first part was in Feb 1990 issue, p. 267-274 and the second was in Mar 1990 issue, p. 291-298. Another two part article appeared in Byte in May 1986 and June 1986. ==== QUESTION: Where can I get information on various disk drives and controllers? ANSWER: ekrieger@quasar.hacktic.nl (Eric Krieger) (Updated Nov. 29, 1993) ==== Drive and Controller Guide, Version 4.3 THEREF(tm) is a comprehensive Directory of Hard Drives, Floppy Drives, Optical Drives, and Drive Controllers & Host Adapters. It is designed to help the novice and pro alike with integration problems and system setups. Information is provided in two handy formats; Portrait mode, for those who prefer a normal book-binding type print format, and(or) do not have a printer with Landscape capability. And Landscape mode, for those who pre- fer a computer-printout type format. For printing, a Laserjet is preferred, but not necessary, and setup info is provided. For viewing, LIST(tm) by Vernon Buerg, will provide an excellent result, and allow text searches for finding specific models. By F. Robert Falbo The archive is available at the following sites, all members of AmiNet (list valid in November '93): USA (MO) ftp.wustl.edu 128.252.135.4 pub/aminet/ USA (TX) ftp.etsu.edu 192.43.199.20 pub/aminet/ USA (CA) ftp.cdrom.com 192.153.46.2 pub/aminet/ Scandinavia ftp.luth.se 130.240.18.2 pub/aminet/ Germany ftp.uni-kl.de 131.246.9.95 pub/aminet/ Germany ftp.uni-erlangen.de 131.188.1.43 pub/aminet/ Germany ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de 130.149.17.7 pub/aminet/ Germany ftp.th-darmstadt.de 130.83.55.75 pub/aminet/ Germany ftp.uni-paderborn.de 131.234.2.32 pub/aminet/ Germany ftp.uni-oldenburg.de 134.106.40.9 pub/aminet/ Switzerland ftp.eunet.ch changing pub/aminet/ Switzerland litamiga.epfl.ch 128.178.151.32 pub/aminet/ (*) UK src.doc.ic.ac.uk 146.169.2.1 pub/aminet/ Australia splat.aarnet.edu.au 192.107.107.6 pub/aminet/ (*) (*) closed 6:30am to 4pm weekdays The archive is present at: pub/aminet/text/docs/TheRef43.lha [197 K] pub/aminet/text/docs/TheRef43.readme Note: When extracting the archive on non-Amiga machines (i.e. MS-DOS with LHA213, etc.) please use the option -a0 to disable the preservation of the file-attributes (otherwise LHA will skip the files inside the archive with the message "special attributes"). The file is also on ftp.funet.fi: pub/doc/disks/TheRef43.lha.2 [197 K] pub/doc/disks/TheRef43.readme.2 ==== QUESTION: What is the telephone number of Adaptec? ANSWER From: jcaples@netcom.com (Jon D Caples) ==== 408 945-8600 Main number 800 959 7274 tech support 800 442 7274 orders doc, new bios, etc. Adaptec's general inquiry number, 800-959-7274, affords access to a FAX-based information retrieval system. In order to preserve the accuracy of this information, I won't go into details about how to use it (since Adaptec may change things without telling me :). For those outside the CAN-US area, or local to Adaptec the direct FAX info number is (408) 957-7150. There are three general topics as of this writing: General Information Sales Information Technical Information Give it a call and request the directory! As of this writing there are over 130 documents available. You need a touchtone phone and the fax number. You'll also be asked for an extension number to stamp on the FAX which will be used to identify the recipient. ==== QUESTION: What is the telephone number of Archive Corporation? ANSWER From: jdp@caleb.UUCP (Jim Pritchett) ==== Archive Corporation (800) 537 2248 Tech Support (800) 227 6296 FAX (714) 641-2499 [Archive was bought by Conner in 1993 - Gary Field] ==== QUESTION: What is the address and telephone number for Quantum? ANSWER From: kmartine@qntm.com (Kevin Martinez) ==== Quantum Corporation 500 McCarthy Blvd. Milpitas, CA 95035 Technical Support Telephone Numbers: 800 826-8022 Main Technical Support Number 408 894-3282 Technical Support Fax 408 894-3214 Technical Support BBS V.32 8N1 408 434-9262 Technical Support for Plus Development Products 408 894-4000 Main Quantum Phone number ==== QUESTION: What is the telephone number for Seagate? ANSWER From: landis@sugs.tware.com (Hale Landis) ==== Here are the numbers for Seagate's Technical Support. SeaBOARD - Bulletin Board System available 24 hours. Use 8 data bits, no parity, 1 stop bit (8-N-1). USA/Canada 408-438-8771 9600 baud* England 44-62-847-8011 9600 baud* Germany 49-89-140-9331 2400 baud* Singapore 65-292-6973 9600 baud* Australia 61-2-756-2359 9600 baud* * - Maximum baud rate supported. SeaFAX 408-438-2620 Use a touch-tone phone to have information returned to you via FAX. Available 24 hours. Technical Support Fax 408-438-8137 FAX your questions or comments 24 hours. Responses are sent between 8:00AM and 5:00PM PST Monday through Friday. SeaFONE 408-438-8222 Provides recorded information 24 hours or talk to a technical specialist between 8:00AM to 5:00PM PST Monday through Friday. SeaTDD 408-438-5382 Using a Telecommunications Device for the Deaf, you can send questions or comments 24 hours or have a dialog with a technical support specialist between 8:00AM and 5:00PM PST Monday through Friday. ==== QUESTION: What is the telephone number and address of Conner Peripherals? ANSWER From: ekrieger@quasar.hacktic.nl (Eric Krieger) ==== CONNER PERIPHERALS, Incorporated WATTS LINE: 3081 Zanker Road PAY LINE: (408)456-4500 San Jose CA 95134 FAX LINE: BBS LINE: (408)456-4415 (V.32) CONNER (408)456-3200 ==== QUESTION: What is the number for NCR? ANSWER From: gkendall@ncr-mpd.FtCollinsCO.NCR.COM (Guy Kendall) ==== For data manuals for any NCR chips, please call 800-334-5454 or 719-630-3384. ==== QUESTION: What is the address and telephone number of UltraStor? ==== UltraStor Corporation 47061 Warm Springs Blvd. Fremont, CA 94539 General (714)581-4100 Tech. Support (510)623-8955 FAX (510)623-8953 BBS (510)623-9091 ==== QUESTION: What is the address and telephone number of WANGTEK? ANSWER From: "Terry Kennedy, Operations Mgr" ==== Wangtek can be reached at: WANGTEK Incorporated 41 Moreland Road Simi Valley, CA 93065 (805) 583-5255 [voice] (805) 583-8249 [FAX] (805) 582-3370 [BBS] now changed to 582-3620 WANGTEK-Europe Unit 1A, Apollo House Calleva Industrial Park Aldermaston, Reading RG7 4QW England (44) 734-811463 [voice] (44) 734-816076 [FAX] 851-848135 [telex] ==== QUESTION: What is the address and telephone number of Western Digital? ANSWER ==== 1-714-753-1068 Western Digital 1-714-756-8176 Western Digital 1-714-753-1234 Western Digital 1200/2400 baud: 714-753-1234 9600 baud (Hayes): 714-753-1068 ==== QUESTION: what is FAST SCSI? ANSWER From: kev@hpcpbla.bri.hp.com (Kevin Jones) ==== There are 2 handshaking modes on the SCSI bus, used for transferring data: ASYNCHRONOUS and SYNCHRONOUS. ASYNCHRONOUS is a classic Req/Ack handshake. SYNCHRONOUS is "sort of" Req/Ack, only it allows you to issue multiple Req's before receiving Ack's. What this means in practice is that SYNCHRONOUS transfers are approx 3 times faster than ASYNCHRONOUS. SCSI1 allowed asynchronous transfers at up to 1.5 Mbytes/Sec and synchronous transfers at up to 5.0 Mbytes/Sec. SCSI2 had some of the timing margins "shaved" in order that faster handshaking could occur. The result is that asynchronous transfers can run at up to 3.0 Mbytes/Sec and synchronous transfers at up to 10.0 Mbytes/Sec. The term "FAST" is generally applied to a SCSI device which can do syncrhonous transfers at speeds in excess of 5.0 Mbytes/Sec. This term can only be applied to SCSI2 devices since SCSI1 didn't have the timing margins that allow for FAST transfers. ==== QUESTION: SCSI terminators should measure 136 ohms? ANSWER From: stevel@coos.dartmouth.edu (Steve Ligett) ==== Yes, that is what you should measure. Let's see how that is so. The terminator contains 18 220-ohm resistors from signals to termpower, and 18 330-ohm resistors from those signals to ground. I've drawn that below: termpower--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 220 ohms-> R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | signals -> o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 330 ohms-> R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ground --+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ When you measure from any one signal to termpower, you aren't measuring that resistor in isolation, you are measuring that resistor IN PARALLEL with the combination of the corresponding 330 ohm resistor plus 17 220+330 ohm resistor pairs in series. I've redrawn the schematic to make this easier to see: termpower--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R <- 220 ohms | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R <- 330 ohms 220 ohms R | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-- ground | | | R <-- 330 ohms | / signal -> o-/ <--------- other stuff that's in parallel ----------> We're trying to measure that one resistor from a signal to termpower, but there's a ton of other stuff in parallel. The resistance of that "stuff" is 330 + 550/17 ohms (the 330 ohm resistor, in series with a parallel combination of 17 550 ohm resistors). The general formula for the equivalent of two resistances in parallel is r1*r2/(r1+r2). Whipping out my trusty spreadsheet, I find that the "stuff" has a resistance of about 362 ohms, and that in parallel with 220 ohms is about 137 ohms. ==== QUESTION: Can someone explain to me the difference between 'normal' scsi and differential scsi? ANSWER From: ralf@wpi.WPI.EDU (Ralph Valentino) ==== "Normal" SCSI is also called "Single-ended" SCSI. For each signal that needs to be sent across the bus, there exists a wire to carry it. With differential SCSI, for each signal that needs to be sent across the bus, there exists a pair of wires to carry it. The first in this pair carries the same type of signal the single-ended SCSI carries. The second in this pair, however, carries its logical inversion. The receiver takes the difference of the pair (thus the name differential), which makes it less susceptible to noise and allows for greater cable length. ==== QUESTION: What are the pinouts for differential SCSI? ANSWER From: ralf@wpi.WPI.EDU (Ralph Valentino) ==== Differential SCSI Connector Pinouts _____________________________________ _____________________________________ | SCSI | | MINI | | | SCSI | | MINI | | | SIGNAL| DD-50P | MICRO | DD-50SA | | SIGNAL| DD-50P | MICRO | DD-50SA | ------------------------------------ ------------------------------------- | -GND | 2 | 26 | 34 | | (open)| 1 | 1 | 1 | | -DB(0)| 4 | 27 | 2 | | +DB(0)| 3 | 2 | 18 | | -DB(1)| 6 | 28 | 19 | | +DB(1)| 5 | 3 | 35 | | -DB(2)| 8 | 29 | 36 | | +DB(2)| 7 | 4 | 3 | | -DB(3)| 10 | 30 | 4 | | +DB(3)| 9 | 5 | 20 | | -DB(4)| 12 | 31 | 21 | | +DB(4)| 11 | 6 | 37 | | -DB(5)| 14 | 32 | 38 | | +DB(5)| 13 | 7 | 5 | | -DB(6)| 16 | 33 | 6 | | +DB(6)| 15 | 8 | 22 | | -DB(7)| 18 | 34 | 23 | | +DB(7)| 17 | 9 | 39 | | -DB(P)| 20 | 35 | 40 | | +DB(P)| 19 | 10 | 7 | | GND | 22 | 36 | 8 | |DIFSENS| 21 | 11 | 24 | | GND | 24 | 37 | 25 | | GND | 23 | 12 | 41 | |TERMPWR| 26 | 38 | 42 | |TERMPWR| 25 | 13 | 9 | | GND | 28 | 39 | 10 | | GND | 27 | 14 | 26 | | -ATN | 30 | 40 | 27 | | +ATN | 29 | 15 | 43 | | GND | 32 | 41 | 44 | | GND | 31 | 16 | 11 | | -BSY | 34 | 42 | 12 | | +BSY | 33 | 17 | 28 | | -ACK | 36 | 43 | 29 | | +ACK | 35 | 18 | 45 | | -RST | 38 | 44 | 46 | | +RST | 37 | 19 | 13 | | -MSG | 40 | 45 | 14 | | +MSG | 39 | 20 | 30 | | -SEL | 42 | 46 | 31 | | +SEL | 41 | 21 | 47 | | -C/D | 44 | 47 | 48 | | +C/D | 43 | 22 | 15 | | -REQ | 46 | 48 | 16 | | +REQ | 45 | 23 | 32 | | -I/O | 48 | 49 | 33 | | +I/O | 47 | 24 | 49 | | GND | 50 | 50 | 50 | | GND | 49 | 25 | 17 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please note that I can only verify the DD-50P connector. The Mini Micro and DD-50SA pinout above is a pin for pin mapping from the SCSI pinout in the FAQ. How to tell if you have a single ended or differential drive: - Use an ohm meter to check the resistance between pins 21 & 22. On a single ended system, they should both be tied together and tied to GND. On the differential drive, they should be open or have a significant resistance between them. Note that most drives today are single ended so you usually only have to worry about this with old drives scavenged from other systems. [ Editor's note: The preceeding comment about differential drives being old is not valid. Differential drives are less common than single-ended ones, because they are mainly used only where longer cable runs are necessary, and they are not generally used in PCs, but state of the art drives are available with differential interfaces. Generally only the higher performance drives have a differential option because of the added cost. - Gary Field ] ==== QUESTION: What are the pinouts for SCSI connectors? ANSWER From: snively@scsi.Eng.Sun.COM (Bob Snively) ==== Originally dated May 23, 1990 The connector families described by the drawings have standard pin numberings which are described the same way by all vendors that I have encountered. The SCSI-2 specification identifies the standard numbering, using that convention. It happened to be documented by AMP, but all the vendors use the same convention. The following diagrams have the outline drawings of connector sockets at the bottom. This is really for reference only, because the connector sockets and plugs are both specified as to their numbering and usually are labeled. There are some minor problems in naming the microconnector conductor pairs, which I have corrected in the enclosed diagram. All the conductor pairs of the Mini-Micro (High Density) connector are in fact passed through on the cables. SCSI-2 defines the RSR (Reserved) lines as maybe ground or maybe open, but they are still passed through the cable. Most present standard SCSI devices will ground those lines. -------------------- microSCSI to SCSI Diagram --------------------------- SCSI Connector Pinouts _____________________________________ _____________________________________ | SCSI | | MINI | | | SCSI | | MINI | | | SIGNAL| DD-50P | MICRO | DD-50SA | | SIGNAL| DD-50P | MICRO | DD-50SA | ------------------------------------ ------------------------------------- | -DB(0)| 2 | 26 | 34 | | GND | 1 | 1 | 1 | | -DB(1)| 4 | 27 | 2 | | GND | 3 | 2 | 18 | | -DB(2)| 6 | 28 | 19 | | GND | 5 | 3 | 35 | | -DB(3)| 8 | 29 | 36 | | GND | 7 | 4 | 3 | | -DB(4)| 10 | 30 | 4 | | GND | 9 | 5 | 20 | | -DB(5)| 12 | 31 | 21 | | GND | 11 | 6 | 37 | | -DB(6)| 14 | 32 | 38 | | GND | 13 | 7 | 5 | | -DB(7)| 16 | 33 | 6 | | GND | 15 | 8 | 22 | | -DB(P)| 18 | 34 | 23 | | GND | 17 | 9 | 39 | | GND | 20 | 35 | 40 | | GND | 19 | 10 | 7 | | GND | 22 | 36 | 8 | | GND | 21 | 11 | 24 | | RSR | 24 | 37 | 25 | | RSR | 23 | 12 | 41 | |TERMPWR| 26 | 38 | 42 | | OPEN | 25 | 13 | 9 | | RSR | 28 | 39 | 10 | | RSR | 27 | 14 | 26 | | GND | 30 | 40 | 27 | | GND | 29 | 15 | 43 | | -ATN | 32 | 41 | 44 | | GND | 31 | 16 | 11 | | GND | 34 | 42 | 12 | | GND | 33 | 17 | 28 | | BSY | 36 | 43 | 29 | | GND | 35 | 18 | 45 | | -ACK | 38 | 44 | 46 | | GND | 37 | 19 | 13 | | -RST | 40 | 45 | 14 | | GND | 39 | 20 | 30 | | -MSG | 42 | 46 | 31 | | GND | 41 | 21 | 47 | | -SEL | 44 | 47 | 48 | | GND | 43 | 22 | 15 | | -C/D | 46 | 48 | 16 | | GND | 45 | 23 | 32 | | -REQ | 48 | 49 | 33 | | GND | 47 | 24 | 49 | | -I/O | 50 | 50 | 50 | | GND | 49 | 25 | 17 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- * NC = NOT CONNECTED CONNECTOR TYPES: DD-50SA ________________________ MINI-MICRO DD-50P | ------------------- | _____________________ ______________ |17 \o o o o o o o o o/1 | | _________________ | 49| o o o o o o |1 | 33 \ o o o o o o o /18 | |25\ o o o o o o o /1| 50| o o o o o o |2 | 50 \o o o o o o o/ 34 | | 50\o o o o o o o/26| --------------- | ------------- | | -------------- | -------------------------- ---------------------- (VIEWED FROM FACE OF CONNECTOR - USE VENDOR NUMBERING SYSTEM AS SPECIFIED) ANSWER From: Gary Field (garyf@wiis.wang.com) Macintosh Plus SCSI Connector Pinouts Note that this connector is NON COMPLIANT WITH ANY SCSI STANDARD! The grounding is insufficient and does not allow for proper twisted-pair transmission line implementation. It is recommended that a short adapter cable be used to convert to the more common Centronics style 50 pin connection rather than extend the 25 pin connection any further than necessary. The Macintosh Plus used a NCR 5380 SCSI chip controlled by the MC68000 processor. ___________________ | SCSI | | | SIGNAL| DB-25S | +-----------------+ DB-25S (female) | -DB(0)| 8 | _____________________________ | -DB(1)| 21 | 13\ o o o o o o o o o o o o o /1 | -DB(2)| 22 | 25\ o o o o o o o o o o o o /14 | -DB(3)| 10 | ------------------------ | -DB(4)| 23 | View from rear of computer. | -DB(5)| 11 | | -DB(6)| 12 | | -DB(7)| 13 | | -DB(P)| 20 | | GND | 7,9,14 | | GND |16,18,24 | | -ATN | 17 | | BSY | 6 | | -ACK | 5 | | -RST | 4 | | -MSG | 2 | | -SEL | 19 | | -C/D | 15 | | -REQ | 1 | | -I/O | 3 | +-----------------+ Pin 25 is NOT CONNECTED end.